Rutherglen, Cambuslang, Halfway and Blantyre

MINISTERIAL STATEMENT ON NEGOTIATIONS ON THE EU WITHDRAWAL BILL

As announced by the Scottish Government’s Brexit Minister, no deal has yet been reached between Holyrood and Westminster regarding devolved powers after our withdrawal from the EU.

The UK Government’s latest offer would mean they could ban the Scottish Parliament from passing laws in certain areas – which are already devolved – without our consent for up to seven years. Such areas include fishing, the environment, genetically modified crops, and more.

Worse still, if the Scottish Parliament voted to refuse this consent Westminster could take that express refusal as the green light that it needed to go ahead and impose restrictions anyway.

As such, the Scottish Government – quite rightly – will not accept such a proposal.